Kilmarnock v Hearts reaction

Last updated : 21 August 2011 By Team Talk

The 23-year-old sustained the injury in a goalmouth scramble in the first half, and was replaced at half-time after managing to play on until the interval.

Shiels said: "I fear that Ryan may have a cruciate - I really feel for the boy, and the big challenge for him now, if it is a cruciate, is that we have to see how strong he is and what his coping strategy is going to be for the rehabilitation period.

"It's a long fight to get back, but it's happened to [team-mate] James Dayton and it's happened to quite a few professional footballers, and he will get strength from people like James and our physiotherapist."

The Kilmarnock manager said his side should have had a second-half spot kick after midfielder Dayton was challenged in the box by Hearts defender Danny Grainger.

He said: "Blatantly obviously it was a penalty. I'm not being critical of any of the officials for that, but the guy had his arm out.

"The problem with a player like Dayton is that he's light and when he goes past people, because he goes over easily because of his lack of weight the first impression is that it's a dive - but it was certainly a penalty kick from where I was.

"However, that's clutching at straws; you have to be honest and say Hearts gave as good as they got.

"They came with good determination, a strong squad of players, and they gave us what for in the last 10 to 15 minutes - we struggled to get out and that resolve was quite evident in their play.

"I think we produced the most quality but at this moment, what we've built in a short period means we've raised expectations so people will start to think accordingly and assess it from a different viewpoint.

"We're undefeated in four games, against Motherwell, Dundee United, Hibs and Hearts, and they're four big clubs."

Visiting manager Paulo Sergio believes his side deserved to claim full points, saying: "We deserved to win - with all respect to Kilmarnock, I think we were better.

"They are a quality team; I saw their previous game and they are a team that wants to play the ball with good passing.

"We didn't let them do that today and had opportunities to score, and we deserved more than just one point.

"The thing they learned today that I like is working like a team, everybody being on the same timing and knowing what they're doing, and that's a big step they need to take."

Sergio's side lost 5-0 to Tottenham in midweek Europa League action, and he says he may use this week's second leg to field fringe players.

He said: "It's almost impossible to go in front so maybe I'm going to play some guys who haven't played much until now, because it's good for them to get experience and also to recover some others for the focus that we should have, the SPL next Sunday.

"These [European] games give us the opportunity to learn and test ourselves - we had a horrible first half at Tynecastle and we should improve on that. If we improve, that's a different way to lose a game."

Source: Team Talk

Source: Team Talk